Trilateral agreement to be signed on Dawei in July: Arkhom

Japan currently holds an equal partnership with Thailand and Myanmar in the Dawei SEZ via a special-purpose vehicle (SPV) to run the multi-billion-dollar project after a trilateral agreement was reached at a meeting of the Joint High-Level Committee on Dawei Development in January.
The overall Dawei SEZ will cover a total area of 205 square kilometres, with a projected capital expenditure of US$50 billion (Bt1.7 trillion).
The first phase of the project will be a 27-square-kilometre industrial estate and a 138-km two-lane highway from Dawei SEZ in Myanmar’s Tanintharyi region to the Phunumron checkpoint in the Thai province of Kanchanaburi, which is expected to cost Bt4.5 billion.
Japan has also vowed full involvement in the second phase of the Dawei SEZ, which includes a further 178 square kilometres of the industrial estate, after the first phase is completed.
“Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha will visit Japan for the Mekong-Japan High Level meeting on July 3-5, where a memorandum of understating between Thailand, Myanmar and Japan will be signed on the joint development of the Dawei project,” Arkhom said during his keynote speech at a seminar organised to celebrate the 10th Anniversary of the Neighbouring Countries Economic Development Cooperation Agency yesterday.
“There will also be a shareholder agreement on the SPV company, with Thailand currently working with Myanmar to ask for permission from the Dawei development and policy committees on June 18 to discuss the SPV matter in Japan during the July meeting,” he said.
The deputy minister said the Thai government would conduct a feasibility study on linking the Phunumron checkpoint and the Kanchanaburi city via a bypass road which is expected to be upgraded and expanded to handle an increase of traffic.